Last full moon of 2017 is a super moon, and it’s this weekend

In the past, December’s full moon has been called the Cold Moon, the Moon before Yule and even the Long Night Moon.

Whatever you call it, just know that a super moon will hang in the Kansas sky on Sunday night.

Big. Huge. And lighting up the sky.

A super moon is a full moon appearing when the moon is at its closest point to Earth – scientifically called the perigee – so it will appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than most full moons, according to earthsky.org.

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“To the average person, it won’t look any different than any other full moon,” said Greg Novacek, physics and astronomy educator at Wichita State University. “But it will be a little bit bigger and brighter.”

The best chance of seeing it will be anytime after sunset on Sunday and sunrise on Monday. The moon will rise on the horizon at 5:43 p.m. Sunday and set at 8:20 a.m. Monday.

“There is no rain in the forecast but there will be some clouds in the area,” said Paul Howerton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.

“The odds would favor us seeing it early evening if we are going to see it,” Howerton said. “The odds will get lower as the night progresses.

If you miss Sunday night’s moon, you will have two more chances for a glance of a super moon in January — on the 2nd and the 31st, according to earthsky.org.

The supermoon rises over Wichita on Monday evening, marking the closest the moon has been to the Earth since 1948. (Video by Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle/Nov. 14, 2016)

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The supermoon on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, is expected to be "super" for two reasons: It is the only supermoon this year to be completely full, and it is the closest moon to Earth since 1948. (Courtesy of NASA)